Meet The Family
by Thomas Tom Tom
Summary: It's time for Nightwing to go home; and he's bringing Raven. Sort of AU; I mucked around with the characters a bit, but not hugely. Rated T. Rae/Rob, Selina/Bruce. Implied Huntress/Question.


"**Meet The Family"**

Titans Tower was silent.

The doors labelled 'Starfire' and 'Cyborg' had always remained much the same. However, on Beast Boy's door, the words "Beast Boy" had been badly sanded off and the word "Changeling" was painted on in sickly green paint.

On Raven's door, the words "And Nightwing Too" had been roughly carved into the brushed steel door with a very sharp object.

Robin's old room had been converted into an armoury, stacks of Wing-Dings and smoke bombs and other bits of insane Bat-Tech filling cases, boxes and racks on the walls.

The Titans were sitting in the common room, as usual. Nightwing was looking at a computer screen displaying his email (as usual), Cyborg and Changeling were playing video games (Cyborg was winning, as usual), Starfire was attempting to cook (badly, as usual) and Raven was reading (Edgar Allen Poe, as usual).

Nightwing looked at a certain email, looked a bit shocked for a second, turned off the computer, and scooted over to Raven. "Ms Roth, would you care to go on a little trip with me in, oh, about two hours?" He smirked a bit and whispered conspiratorially. "Just got an email from Alfred: Bruce wants to see me...it's like a Bat Family Reunion or something...and I don't care if he throws me out, you're coming just so I don't run for the hills..."

Raven started laughing. "Why yes, Mr Grayson, that would be very nice. I'll just change into something a little more...uhh...inconspicuous and join you in a minute."

She whispered back "Is he _really _that scary?"

Nightwing laughed.

"Yes."

* * *

Rachel Roth and Richard Grayson arrived outside Wayne Manor on a black motorcycle. Richard wore jeans, tallish motorcycling boots and a black shirt; Rachel wore a knee-length skirt, high-heeled boots and a white t-shirt. They had barely taken two steps up the ornate stairs when the door opened to reveal a distinguished, grey haired man wearing a black butler suit and carrying a dishtowel.

"Alfred!" Richard beamed at the old man. "Please tell Bruce that _we _have arrived."

Alfred looked at Rachel with a questioning look in his grey eyes. "We, Master Dick?"

"Alfred, you know I hate that name..." Richard said jokingly. "And yes, we. I figured Barb, Helen and Selina could use some company."

Rachel gave Richard – Dick - a look that said "Barb? Helen? Selina? Who are these women and how much do I have to kill them?"

Alfred led Dick and Rachel into the main hall, where numerous people looked up with varied greetings. An excited "Dick!" from Tim Drake, aka Red Robin; a sarcastic yet still sisterly "Finally..." from wheelchair-bound Barbara Gordon, aka Oracle; a disinterested wave from Helen Barnouilli, aka the Huntress; a sparkling smile from Selina Kyle, aka Catwoman aka Batwoman and finally a quiet "Hello" from Bruce Wayne, aka The Batman.

Dick high-fived Tim, waved to Barb, hit Helen on the back, hugged Selina and shook Bruce's hand, laughing.

Rachel hovered on the threshold of the room before Dick rolled his eyes and strode purposefully over to her and dragged her over to the interested Bat Family.

"Who's your girlfriend, Dick?" Tim asked with false innocence.

"Quiet you. Rachel, meet Tim, Barb, Helen, Selina and Bruce. You probably know them better as Robin, Oracle, Huntress, Batwoman – or at least she is now - and Batman. Guys, this is Rachel. She's -" Dick made the introductions before Bruce interrupted.

"She's the Teen Titan – oh, wait, you're just the 'Titans' now – known as Raven." He finished for his adopted son. Raven gaped at him and he made a half-smile. "World's Greatest Detective, remember?"

Rachel swallowed.

"Nervous?" Barbara asked kindly, wheeling herself over. "Relax, we're a family here. A really weird family," she said, grinning inwardly, "but a family nonetheless. Tim's the annoying little brother, I'm the nerdy younger sister, Helen's the cooler older sister, Selina's the stepmum and Bruce is just Bruce, or at least he likes to think he is. He's more as the super-busy dad who's never around."

Rachel loosened up substantially. She instantly liked Barbara's openness. "So what does that make Dick, then? The next-door neighbour?" she said with a small smile.

"Wow, Barb. You got her to smile in five minutes." Dick interjected. "It took me about two years to do that."

Rachel elbowed him hard in the ribs and he doubled over, unprepared.

Helen laughed at that. "I like her already."

Tim piped up "Helen likes someone with a face? Wonders will never cease."

The whole Bat Family laughed, bar Helen.

"The last time we did a meeting like this, I had a stone which I passed around to allow people to talk" Alfred said, entering the room with tea on his trademark platter. "It eased the proceedings no end."

More laughter.

"Anyway, let's get down to business." Dick said.

"I agree, let's get this over with." Bruce replied. "Let's have a drink and then go down to the 'study' to have _the_ meeting."

Tea was handed out. Rachel was passed a herbal tea by Helen, who explained about Dick telling them all about her on his last visit.

* * *

During this tea-drinking time, Rachel learned a lot about her boyfriend's adopted family – how Tim was afraid of monkeys; how Barbara was shot through the spine by the Joker, which paralysed her from the waist down and ended her career as the Batgirl; how Helen's boyfriend was a Justice Leaguer with no face and a knack (crazy obsession) for conspiracies; how Selina used to be a criminal (the Catwoman) before falling in love with the Batman and subsequently Bruce, then retiring from crime to be with him (thus switching sides and becoming the Batwoman); and finally how Bruce had a dog called Ace, scared Superman on a daily basis, punched Green Lantern in the face, and was once arrested; imprisoned in the Arkham City superprison; got a form of cancer from a chemical called TITAN from the Joker's blood and was blown up a few hundred times. (This didn't surprise Rachel - he was Batman, after all.)

She also found herself really liking the family. She liked that Tim's naïve image hid an incredibly clever and enquiring mind; she liked Barbara's humour (much like her own) and the way she didn't let her injury beat her; she liked Helen's maturity and quiet wit; she was drawn to how Selina, though having never had a mother to look up to (a bit like her), seemed to fit right into the role of a mother-figure; and she was in awe of Bruce's silent authority and the sense of control, restraint and willpower that radiated from him.

"Time to go down to the 'study'." Bruce said, when they had all finished their drinks.

Rachel leaned over and whispered in Dick's ear. "What's the 'study' really?"

"It's Bruce's name for the Batcave" he replied without moving his lips.

The little family trooped down to the big grandfather clock in the back room.

Bruce set the time on it to 10:34 PM and it swung open to reveal an elevator which they all piled into and descended into the cave.

Rachel looked in wonderment at the assorted bat-styled vehicles scattered around the bat-filled cave, the giant bat-shaped screen on the far wall and the confiscated weapons of supervillans in bat-shaped display cases. She counted three Freeze Cannons, lots of Joker-inspired machine guns and razor-sharp cards, a few giant hammers, four or five of Penguin's umbrellas and Prometheus's helmet. In some there were even complete outfits: Harley Quinn, Firefly, and a grey ensemble with a fedora that she didn't recognise.

In the cave recess beside that was an armoury, with hundreds of different bat-shaped gadgets in bat-shaped racks, some she couldn't even guess the function of.

Her eyes were drawn to the suits arrayed in the bat-shaped glass cases by the back wall of the cave. Batman, Batgirl, Robin, Nightwing, Oracle, Huntress, Catwoman, and a Batwoman suit on the far right.

She noticed there was one empty case, beside Nightwing's. "_Whose suit goes there...?" _she wondered.

"So, what'd you think?" Barbara leaned over and whispered to her.

"I get a real bat vibe from all of the things in the room, but I can't quite put my finger on what it is..." Rachel said in her monotone.

Barbara laughed.

* * *

The Bat Family (and Raven) sat down at a bat-shaped conference table by the bat-shaped Batcomputer – all wearing their uniforms.

Batman wore the Batsuit (duh), Red Robin sported a cowled variant of the original Robin's suit (no green, more red, more black and a robin's head symbol on his chest), Nightwing had his insane armour (made by Batman) and Huntress was clad in her signature black and purple gear.

Batwoman wore her yellow suit with the red bat symbol splayed on the chest, an inverted A-shaped red mask with tall spikes over her ears, red boots and gloves, belt, red cape, and the diamond claws from her old Catwoman days.

Oracle was the most surprising. She wore a very pale yellow, knee length Ancient Greek-style robe held with a bat-shaped brooch and a belt with a bat-shaped buckle. She also wore a hood, like Raven's (only it was the same yellow colour as the rest of her outfit), and her legs, lower torso and neck were augmented by a sleek silver exosuit (with fabulous high heels, Raven noted) that allowed her to move as she did before she lost the use of her legs.

"I vote to add the Raven to the Bat Family, and all privileges that entails," Nightwing said, "like, you know, access to the Batcave; private Bat-comm link to all of us; Bat medical care – i.e. Alfred, heh; et cetera, et cetera. Did I overdo the 'bat' things?"

Raven's eyes widened. "_I'm being made a Bat Family member?!"_

"_Isn't that REALLY weird, because Nightwing's my boyfriend?" _she thought randomly.

She cleared her head of that and other similar thoughts.

"You can't overdo the 'bat' things. Vote seconded." Oracle smiled at Raven from under her hood, sitting up straighter to make herself the same height as Nightwing.

"No way! Not _more _girls!" Red Robin said, standing up and hopping a little so as to be able to see the proceedings more clearly.

"I vote yes to more girls in the Family!" Huntress banged her gloved fist on the table.

"Though she makes it sound like a branch of the Mafia, I'm with Huntress. There's too many men in this cave." Batwoman laughed.

"Batman?" Nightwing asked.

"Batman...?"

"Oh, not _again..." _Batwoman leaned forwards in a slouch, propping her head up with her arm.

A white-garbed mannequin was pushed out by a mechanical arm into the empty glass case. A Batsymbol was emblazoned proudly onto the central gem in its belt.

"That's...that's my suit!" Raven squeaked.

A note fluttered down from the ceiling. Some bats squeaked and flapped about.

It read:

_I'm on patrol. _  
_I got tired of your voting and decided for you. Raven is now officially part of the Bat Family. (A bit odd, that, seeing as she's Nightwing's girlfriend. Food for __thought.) Welcome to the family, Raven. I hope you like being a part of it. _

_Batman_

_P.S. Do I have to make armour for her as well, Nightwing?_

"I suppose this answers that question." Nightwing said with a smirk while scrawling "_Are you ever going to drop the armour thing?" _onto the paper.

"Yeah, welcome to the family, sister!" Oracle stood up, did a graceful frontflip over the table, landed easily, and gave Raven a hard punch on the shoulder. "Sorry, sometimes being able to move like that gets to me." She giggled.

"Oh well, at least she's better looking than Huntress." Red Robin said in mock defeat.

"Take that back!" Huntress drew a crossbow. "Um. No offence, Rae."

Raven felt oddly warm inside. This was the first "family" that she'd really felt a part of. A mum, a dad. Older sisters and an annoying brother. Bickering, teasing, messing about.

It made her feel almost like a normal teenager.

More so than the Titans had, anyway. She felt like she at eternal boarding school there.

"Master Dick, Miss Rachel, there is a call for you. A Mr. Stone, I believe." Alfred called from the far side of the room. "He seemed quite adamant that you return as soon as possible."

Raven laughed. Cyborg was panicking already. "Tell him we'll be there in about 4 hours – Nightwing's terrifying bike can only go so fast. More importantly, I only _let _him go so fast."

Oracle laughed. "Does he _still _drive like Wally West on an energy drink binge?"

"Oh yeah." Raven started laughing with Oracle. "Life flashes before your eyes."

"Master Dick, Mr. Stone is getting quite vocal that you return to the Tower – to quote - '_toot sweet.' _I think you may want to answer the telephone quite rapidly." Alfred cut in, his British accent still entirely calm, as if Cyborg was not screaming down the phone that he would personally perform rectal surgery on Nightwing with only a rusty spoon and two sticks if anything had happened, which he was.

Nightwing gave a look that screamed "HELP!"

He turned to Alfred and picked up the bat-shaped phone, saying into it "We'll be there in five hours. No sooner." before promptly putting it down again before it could explode with Cyborg's abject fury.

A sly look came into Huntress's eyes. "Buuuut...if I take you in the Batwing you can be there in an hour and a half...leaving the rest of your evening tantalisingly free."

"Plus, she gets to go to Jump City for a day and therefore doesn't have to go on patrol tonight." Oracle added dryly.

"I'm really liking this family, Nightwing." Raven said, genuinely meaning it, and then her face split into a grin. "Now, where's this 'Batwing,' then...?"

* * *

**Disclaimer: I do not own Teen Titans, Batman, Huntress, Justice League, etc etc etc.**

**A/N: Something I threw together after watching far too much Batman. **

**I designed Oracle's outfit to let her actually fight crime, because I don't like the idea of her being stuck in the cave all day and not doing anything. **

**That part about "And Nightwing Too" I think I pinched from someone whose name escapes me. Sorry! It's a great image and I just _had _to use it.**

**I did mess with the DC continuity to make Selina Kyle the Batwoman instead of Katrina What's-Her-Name because I like Selina/Bruce.**

**I put a lot of references into this. :D Try and find all of them! **

**Review, please. Really helps.**

**Tom **


End file.
